After Life
by Sketcher1994
Summary: Astraea shook her head, trying to clear the thick fog clouding her mind. She flinched as her sharp eyes finally focused on the tall, suited skeleton in front of her. What kind of weird dream was this! Last thing she remembered; she had been walking along the canal wall with her cousin? She narrowed her crimson eyes at the empty eye sockets of the six-foot walking skeleton.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

**How long's it been since I last typed that...? Anyway, I have a day off and I can't move because Bella is curled up into the side of my leg. I've been toying with posting this since about Easter. It has Eight Chapters and an Epilogue. So, yes, it's finished... So no excuses. Back to how I used to do my stories - write first, post when finished. If we're lucky, I'll get my confidence back and we'll finish posting _Mountains to Dust: Becoming Purav_ and _On The Hunt_. **

**Hope you enjoy this. You can read this on its own, but it's partnered up with _Life on Repeat_ and _Don't Fear_.**

**Really hope you enjoy this - it's kinda scary coming back *Nervous laugh* - and I pray you've been keeping well?**

**Thank you to _whereisthefood_ on Tumblr for the shout out for the _Parole_ series! And thank you to all the kicks I've been getting from you lovely reviewers - I wouldn't be posting this without your help. I know it's been a very long time and I sincerely mean my apology for the delay...**

_P.S. Fairy Tail characters pop in and out, couldn't have them all in the tag. Feel free to try to guess connections and who's being hinted at in places._

_Also, if you don't mind uncompleted stories and lemons, check out Bartender's Family is off Limits by SetsunaNoroi - I binge read this Bixanna this morning... Got some great character development and there may have been a tear or two._

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**Chapter One**

"Tammy Lewis."

"What?" Astraea blinked.

"Tammy fucking Lewis. Don't make me repeat myself." A deep male voice snarled.

"Who-Who's Tammy Lewis?" Astraea frowned, her hand moving to her forehead as she shook her head, trying to clear the thick fog clouding her mind. She flinched as her sharp eyes finally focused on the tall, suited skeleton in front of her. What kind of weird dream was this?! Last thing she remembered; she had been walking along the canal wall with one of her cousins? Had she fallen? Really hard, bad-dream-unconscious hard? "And who are you?" She snapped, narrowing her crimson eyes at the empty, bottomless eye sockets of the six-foot giant walking, talking skeleton.

"Doesn't matter anymore." He grunted, thrusting the plain sandy brown paper file into her tiny chest.

"What's that supposed to mean? Of course it matters! You're a talking skeleton in a smart suit!" Astraea exclaimed, marching after him as quick as she could while his long strides pulled him away from her at an unnatural pace.

"Get on with yer fucking job." He sighed, waving stiffly back over his shoulder without looking at her.

She glared after his retreating form. What was up with him?! Why the hell had her imagination created a bad tempered, six-foot skeleton in the first place? And as her employer?! It could not be some sort of prank carried out by her family, not with how realistic that skull had been… And those hands. She had been able to see every little bone. She had not realised she knew the human body well enough to imagine that _thing_ in such detail. She really must be completely messed up.

But now what the heck was she supposed to do? She pursed her lips and pinched her arm. Hard. She exhaled, rubbing her arm. That had not worked. She looked around her, studying the red-illuminated rough cavern walls. Solid rock. No doors. No openings. She appeared to be standing in the very centre, the other people wandering around the outside of the gigantic space. It was at least as big as two of the cathedral in town. How was she supposed to get out of this weird place? She tilted her head to one side as she realised someone was staring straight at her.

"Edmund?" She started hurtling desperately towards him, fighting tears at the sight of his familiar face. Half face. He had half a face. Astraea stopped dead, her hand shooting to the right side of her own lightly tanned face. The flesh was still there, but it was hanging from her cousin's chin, rotting and oozing. The rest of it held a pale, cold blue hue. She felt the bile burning in the back of her throat. He was dead. He had died four years ago. She had been playing magic tag with her cousins and he had stopped in the middle of the road when she had yelled that it was unfair. His ice make magic had not saved him from the magic car that hit him. No-one could, not even the legendary Wendy… Uncle Henry had been so heartbroken.

"Why are you here?" Edmund's painfully familiar voice asked, both of his beautiful royal blue eyes giving away his despair. "You can't be dead yet… You're too young…"

"I don't know where to start with that." She snorted, rolling her eyes as a soft laugh started deep inside her. "I'm too young to die? You died _four_ years ago. You were thirteen. In fact, put that rotting flesh back in place, you'd still look like that same thirteen-year-old boy that stopped _in the middle of the road_. You're an idiot! An absolute idiot! You left me with them! Then again, you never really understood either!" She snapped, her laugh beginning to bubble out of her. "And I have no idea where I am or what happened. I'm just _here_, having a _really_ weird dream where I'm talking to my dead cousin and a really tall skeleton in a black suit tells me to get on with my job. He even swore at me. Twice. No-one swears at me. They're scared of me."

"If they knew you, they'd realise they were right to be." He responded playfully, nudging her elbow with his.

"Because of my temper?" She demanded, her laugh becoming louder.

"Calm down." The gruff male voice sighed, a man's hand suddenly on her shoulder. No, a skeleton hand. She could feel the rough skin, even as she stared wide-eyed at the bones gently gripping her bare shoulder.

"Don't touch me."

"I'm Head of these fucking Reapers, so do what I fucking tell ya and ya get out of here." He growled, tightening his grip. She glared back over her shoulder up at him. "There's no going home. Ya're dead, deal with it. If ya don't, yer trapped down here."

"He's right." Edmund pitched in with a shrug. It was so horribly him. The black suit was not.

"I can't be dead." Astraea returned, pursing her lips as she folded her arms over her chest. She frowned as his expression changed, if only for a split second, before returning to a cold, stony glare. What had that been about? "I was just out for a harmless walk."

"And we were just playing a harmless game." Edmund countered, folding his arms over his own chest as he mimicked her stance. "Look at me, dear cousin."

"Damn… She's the reason you're here? Well that sucks." The tall skeleton snorted in obvious amusement. "Or not, I guess. Karma? You get him killed at thirteen, so ya die at thirteen while he's still carrying out his sentence."

"I'm not thirteen." Astraea snarled, baring her abnormally pointy teeth at the stupid skeleton.

"Alright, brat, ya're not thirteen," the skeleton began, an obnoxious smirk across his stupid face, "ya're ten." Edmund lunged forward, pulling her hard back against him to stop her trying to throttle the giant. "Ya've got the usual quota of ten souls a day for ten years, ya got it?" He continued, clearing out a phantom ear with his fleshless pinkie absently. "A year here feels like ten, so ya'll get to know the others pretty well. Or ya won't, up to ya."

"I'll make sure she keeps to that, sir." Edmund nodded sharply, tightening his grip on her. "Do what he tells you," he began to whisper, "or he'll smash you to pieces."

"I heard that." The skeleton called back as he walked away. Good hearing then.

"Ok, Tammy Williams." Astraea grumbled, handing over the file. She blinked as it disappeared in a tiny puff of dark grey smoke. "Where-"

"Do that again and I'll chain ya to the fucking wall." The skeleton snarled, suddenly behind her again. Astraea held still, refusing to look back over her shoulder. "I can't be in two damn places at once and I have others to fucking deal with. Take yer damn assignment and fucking do it. Ya've got ten to do today or another year gets added onto yer sentence – don't argue, I don't make the fucking rules."

Astraea turned to watch him go, frowning after him. There was something familiar about him. Not that she cared. He was just some big jerk. And she was dead. Was Edmund's sister ok? Had she died too? Would Annabelle be here if she was? Astraea desperately started studying the faces around them, looking for her dear cousin. Her water magic would have saved her, right? If she had fallen in the canal?

"Annabelle wouldn't be here…" Edmund's voice explained quietly. She turned to look at him, to find him glaring back at her. "I'm here because I did something that will get someone killed in the future. You're here because your temper tantrum killed me."

Astraea's hand collided with invisible flesh, tears streaming down her face, as it stayed holding the skull-half of his previously boyishly handsome face. If she had not shouted, he would have been out of the way of the magic car, but he should not have run out onto the road. So many times, her dear father had told her that as he had held her close. She could not go home. She was dead. She would never see her parents again. Or her living cousins, her aunts and uncles… her grandparents. Her grandparents that had had so much hope for her future.

"Keep your head down and get on with your job." Edmund ordered, pushing her through the seemingly solid cavern wall.

Astraea blinked, turning back to glare at her cousin. He had just pushed her through stone! And now she was staring at what could only be the wall of a hospital. The smell of disinfectant burned the inside of her sensitive nose, making her cuss quietly to herself. She tried to cover her delicate nose, silently cursing her ancestry. She turned back to face into the room to find a young woman staring at her. She attempted a friendly smile before noticing an identical young woman in the bed next to where the woman sat.

"Hi…" Astraea began awkwardly, looking between the two women. "Sorry about your twin?" She offered, rubbing the back of her neck.

"You can see me?" The young woman inquired almost too politely as she shifted in her seat. "No-one has been able to see me since I ended up in here." She continued. Astraea felt bile building in her throat again. Oh no. "Are you here to help me back into my body?" The woman asked, a faint pleading tone to her voice. "My fiancé will be here soon… Can we do this quickly?"

"One moment." Astraea nodded, trying to look official. She opened the file in her hands.

Tammy Lewis, age twenty-seven, engaged to Steven Hope, died from concussion after falling asleep while drunk having hit her head off of a cupboard door. Seriously? She studied the chirpy looking brunette in the photo, wondering how someone could possibly die in such a stupid way. Was it a heavy cupboard door? Was it like a fire door? How drunk was she? Did she bodily run into the damn door?!

"No, I knocked the jar of rice out of the cupboard, bent down to pick it up, then stood up too fast?" Tammy frowned, her head tilted slightly to one side in mild confusion. "I'm not dead, so I hardly think you can call me stupid for hitting my head. I just really wanted a nap – alcohol makes me sleepy anyway. Although, the doctors do keep rambling on about how abnormally thin my skull was every time they come in. I think they think I can't hear them but I'm sitting right here. To be honest, I'd really like to just get back into my body. I can't exactly miss my wedding. Steve's been talking about having it in the hospital but apparently the Reverend won't agree because I'm 'not conscious', which is ridiculous."

"When is your wedding?" Astraea smiled in what she hoped was an amicable expression, knowing instantly that the twenty-seven year old could see right through it. She never had been a people-person.

"You're not here to help me into my body, are you?" Tammy demanded, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't think so." Astraea admitted, rubbing her left hand over her right bicep awkwardly.

"Don't think so? You don't _think_ so?! Who are you?! How old are you?!" The brunette snapped, suddenly red faced as her anger flared. "I've been stuck here for days and they send a _child_ to help me?!"

"I'm not a child." Astraea sighed, understanding the young woman's frustration. She could not even remember someone coming for her, so hopefully this poor woman would not remember this failed attempt on her part. "I've just recently died myself and no-one has really explained what I'm supposed to be doing. All I have is this file. It doesn't tell me much."

"Does it say where I'm going…?" She gasped, reaching for it as she stood up from her plastic hospital chair.

"I found out about fifteen minutes ago that if I try to hand it to someone, it vanishes and some stupid giant skeleton in a black suit appears behind me to give it back." She half-heartedly explained, flicking the file open again. "And he's always pissed." She added, rolling her eyes. What if…? "Well, it says you're going upstairs, so you got a better deal than me!" Astraea grinned, looking back at the woman with her perfect poker face. Lie as if you believe every word you say. As long as it did not require actual emotion, her grandfather Jasper's advice worked wonders. Apparently he had learned from the best – his father.

"Really?!" Tammy beamed, leaping up from her chair to wrap her arms around Astraea.

"Enough hugging. No touching." Astraea growled, firmly pushing the older woman away.

"Yes, ma'am." Tammy saluted with a cheeky grin.

"Now, wha-" Astraea clenched her jaw as a scythe almost twice her short height appeared in her left hand. Tammy's eyes widened slightly in surprise before the brunette gave her a reassuring smile. "Ok." She tapped the young woman's heart, shocked at her own knowledge as the spirit disappeared. She groaned as she reappeared in what must be hell a moment later.

"Don't lie to souls!" The giant skeleton snarled less than an inch from her face. She looked passed his scarred white skull to see that he was literally bent in half.

"You look weirdly comfortable doing that?" She mused before putting her hand out.

"Fuck off." He grunted, handing her the next case. "Don't lie to souls – if ya'd been wrong about her destination, there'd have been problems. Ya could literally start a war in Hell."

"One soul can't cause a war." She snorted, rolling her eyes as she walked towards the cavern wall.

"They can and they have."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!**

**I almost forgot to update this... *Nervous laugh* This plagued me for _months_ until I wrote it! Anyway, updates today so far include _Cobalt Blue Couch_ (Bixanna), _On The Hunt_ (Gajevy), and _Mountains to Dust: Becoming Purav_ (Gajevy) - yes, I finally updated _that_. **

**Please enjoy!**

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**Chapter Two**

Tammy Lewis, age twenty-seven, engaged to Steven Hope, died from concussion after falling asleep while drunk having hit her head off of a cupboard door.

Ronald Kelly, age ninety-four, widower of Tina (Scott) Kelly, died during sleep when heart stopped beating.

Steven Peterson, age twenty-three, engaged to Maria Johnson and dating Louise Morris, died of a ruptured throat after walking into his home to find his fiancée and girlfriend talking cheerfully to which he tried to back away slowly and tripped over the dog.

Cynthia Butler, age twenty-one, in a sexual relationship with Henry Evens, died from extreme full body frost bite when frozen magically by sexual partner in bed.

Carlos Ward, age thirty-six, boyfriend of Mark Harris, died upon electrocution by boyfriend when he got excited during sex.

Henry Jones, age forty, married to Theresa (Parker) Jones with two children, died when crushed by a falling stalactite during a family outing to explore caves for his birthday.

Jimmy Watson, age thirty-one, single, died when accidently stabbed by Doris Griffin upon unintentionally brushing her posterior in a crowded room after she had been sexually harassed by her stalker of four months.

Earl Patterson, age fifty-three, married to Sandra (Brown) Patterson with four children, died on stage when a prop-knife failed to retract after telling the actors he would show them how it was done.

Mary Washington, age fifteen, died when electrocuted from grabbing an electric fence while standing in a metal container filled with water for a bet.

Julia Adams, age nineteen, dating Mathew Cooper, died hitting a tree when adjusting makeup while driving a magic car.

"You're joking, right?" Lucas snorted, slapping her back with his skeletal hand. "I can't decide what's more hilarious, being electrocuted because the sex was so great or getting your throat ripped out by your girlfriend's dog by chance when you find her talking to your fiancée as if they're best friends!?"

"You would choose those two." Astraea rolled her eyes, swinging her legs as they dangled into the Pit.

"I can't believe that was your first day! I know they try to pick easy ones for newbies, but those are hilarious!" He cackled, a tear rolling down his cheek. "What breed of dog was it, anyway?!"

"Brussels Griffon." She sighed, already prepared for his laugh to become a demented cackle. "Before you ask, he was knocked unconscious when he tripped… the dog jumped his unconscious body, he didn't fight it."

"Yeah, he would have survived if he'd fought one of those tiny fluffballs!" He guffawed, slapping her back again enthusiastically.

"Why did I introduce the two of you?" Edmund groaned as he approached the side of the Pit. "Worst idea I've ever had."

"Any word on Annabelle?" Astraea smiled, patting the ground next to her.

"Nope." He sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he arched his remaining eyebrow at her. "You know better than to sit there." He added when she did not move.

"No news is good news! How's the grandparents?!" She grinned, hopping up to stand next to the edge and giggling as his blue half-face paled.

"You remember how you died, right?" He bit, clearly resisting the urge to try to pull her away from the edge. She would not be the first to fall from someone's well-meant attempt of help.

"Yeah, yeah, fell off the canal wall." She chanted, rolling her eyes. How had she ended up with these two goofballs? "But, seriously, any news? Are they still topside?"

"There's a rumour that your grandma's eldest brother might be about to die, but that's it." He shrugged, patting the top of her head. "And it's natural causes."

"Not if someone beats nature to it!" She chimed, skipping past him to head through to their division's cavern. "He wouldn't be the first."

"You make it sound like you want him to die." Edmund frowned, narrowing his eyes at her. Lucas cackled next to the Pit, clutching his stomach, at the sight of her cousin's face.

"Never met the guy, so I don't have much of an opinion." She shrugged, putting her hand out just as the Head appeared in front of her.

"What rumour ya talking about now?" He grunted, handing her the first case of her new shift.

"My grandmother's eldest brother might be about to die of natural causes. Rumour has it, he was the favourite. And then Grandma, in my great-grandfather's eyes." She winked conspiratorially, chirpily opening the file. "Who've we got today?"

"Two months here and ya're indifferent to death." The giant grumbled, shaking his head. "Gave ya a hard one this time."

"A hard one?" Astraea frowned, glancing back up at him for a moment before starting to read the file.

_Krystal Newman, age eight, single, died of influenza._

"She's eight… and it's not stupidity." She stated, her body going tense as she looked at the photo of little girl with deep red pigtails, shimmering emerald eyes, and rosy freckled cheeks. "There's nothing we can do?" She inquired, her voice level and serious. This was messed up.

"Nothing." The Head nodded, a sadness passing over his skull-face. "It's her time. She's still got a couple of loops left though, so she'll be reborn."

"Loops?" Astraea frowned, looking between the photo and the skeleton.

"Loops." He nodded, a look of genuine confusion appearing in his expression.

"You don't remember your loops?" Lucas snorted as he threw his lanky arm over her shoulders. "You sure you're dead?!"

"Maybe she only had one?" Edmund added with a shrug, clearly trying to be helpful.

"Possibly." The giant grunted, his eye sockets narrowed slightly. "Back to work."

"Yes, _sir_." She teased and wandered over to the wall, the skip completely out of her step.

"Don't give me that lip!" He snapped after her and she laughed.

"You sound like my father!" She called back before disappearing through the rock wall.

"Mummy?"

Astraea stopped dead as the sound of a crying child met her sensitive ears. She clenched her jaw and held still, assessing the situation. She had to decide how best too deal with this. The little girl was wafer thin, like the frail, grey body in the hospital bed surrounded by blank, lifeless monitors. Her previously gorgeous, silky hair hung limp and faded around her tear-stained face. Astraea gulped as the girl tried to tug on her mother's clothes, only for her hand to pass right through the soft blue, floral material of the young woman's dress. The mother herself could not have been older than twenty-five.

"Mummy?!" Krystal bawled, matching her mother's heart wrenching sobs.

Astraea took a deep breath to steady herself as the sobs racked through the mother's body. Had her own mother been like this? Had her father been inconsolable? Were they ok? Was their marriage ok? Or were they one of those couples who fall apart after their only child dies? There had already been so much pressure on them… They had admitted to her so many times that they had kept their relationship a secret for years because of what it did. It united so many powerful wizards. She was their descendant and look at her, the reason her own cousin died, no matter what her father had kept telling her. He was still up there. She would have heard if he was in Heaven or Hell. He was still alive… but she could never see him again.

"Who are you…?" A little voice sniffed as a small hand held out a white, square, cotton tissue with a gold embroidered constellation on one of its corners. Virgo.

"Where did you get that?" Astraea mumbled as she roughly wiped away her tears with her bare hands.

"It was lying next to you?" Krystal blinked before pointing at the floor next to her left hand. "Was it not yours?"

"Maybe?" She smiled sadly. It had been two whole months but she still was not sure what she could all summon. She had learned that her scythe could appear in different forms. A tissue was maybe one of them. "My name is- is Astraea." She finally answered, frowning slightly as she tripped over her own name. Was she possibly beginning to forget? No, Edmund said it to her every day.

"That's pretty! What does it mean?!" The little girl beamed, her emerald eyes suddenly bright.

"Thanks," she chuckled, ruffling the little girl's auburn hair, "it means 'star'. It's actually from the name of the goddess of justice and innocence who became the constellation Virgo… Apparently it was an appropriate name for the first child of my parents' union."

"You have brothers and sisters?" Krystal bounced, grabbing Astraea's hands.

"No? I'm an only child." She nodded in mild confusion.

"But you said you're the first and you're old!" The little girl pouted, shaking her head cutely. "You're not the first, you're the only!"

"Fair enough." Astraea soothed, running her fingers through the girl's hair. She grinned as an idea struck her. She removed two hairbands out of her suit pocket and held them up to the little girl. She still had no idea how she had ended up in the stupid suit when she had gone through the wall to meet Tammy Lewis, but it always had hairbands and combs. "Let me tie your hair up in cute pigtails, but you have to keep facing me, ok?" The girl nodded, her face lighting up with excitement.

Astraea began combing the girl's hair, watching life seep back into it as the girl's smile continued to grow and her eyes started to shimmer with joy. "If I had a little sister, I hope she'd have been just like you." Astraea grinned, cupping the girl's cheek once she had finished the girl's hair. "Do you want to meet my teddy?" She offered, hoping that the scythe could pull that one off.

"You have a teddy?!" Krystal cried out in joy, her hands reaching toward Astraea.

"Here we are." Astraea smiled, fighting back her tears as she pulled her scythe out of thin air in the form of a teddy bear not much shorter than herself. She tapped its 'paw' against the girl's chest and Krystal Newman vanished with a giggle.

"That was beautifully handled." The gruff voice of the Head applauded softly as she found herself kneeling in a small cavern in Hell. She had only been here twice and had been lucky to get away without a beating… She had seen plenty of suited skeletons leave this very cavern with smashed bones. The bones always healed, but the screams she had heard…

"Thanks." She sniffed, getting up to her feet without looking him in the eye. "And thanks for pulling me in here rather than out there."

"No problem – that was yer first hard one." He grunted, squeezing her shoulder almost affectionately. "But that's not the only reason I brought ya in here."

"Figured." She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Who are ya?"

"What?" She snorted, finally looking up at him. He could not be serious?

"Who are ya?" He repeated, his usual annoyance at having to repeat himself completely absent. "What's yer name? Yer history?"

"I've been here two months and you're only asking me that now?" She frowned in disbelief, stepping away from his touch.

"It didn't seem important… Although it was pretty obvious that ya'd somehow skipped Reaper Induction." He grinned, shaking his head in obvious amusement. "I don't think yer dead."

"After two months, you think it's acceptable to suddenly start trying to tell me I'm not dead?!" She snapped, baring her teeth at him. What kind of sick joke was this?!

"I remember that expression well, that's the thing. Yer stances, yer expressions, that hair… but I don't know ya. Who are ya and what are ya doing in Hell?" He continued, his expression serious yet soft, almost familiar.

"My name is Astraea Fernandez, I'm from Fiore." She retorted, folding her arms over her small chest. "And, from what _you_ told me, I'm here because I'm dead."

"How did ya die?" He pressed gently, his jaw bone tense.

"I'm guessing I fell off the canal wall into the water." She responded with an eyeroll.

"In Magnolia?" The giant suited skeleton seemingly gulped.

"Yes, in Magnolia. I _always_ walk along that wall! It's a habit I picked up from my mother, who apparently picked it up from her mother, who – from what I've heard – picked it up from her mother who had the same conversion with the same two guys every day she did it." She rambled, repeating the conversion she had had a thousand times when asked about why she had decided it was a good idea to walk along the canal wall. It had not killed the previous women in her family to do it and it had not killed her cousin Annabelle.

"Blondie…?" He uttered, staring in shock at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Shit. Fuck. Well, ya've got her nose… and her jaw. How the fuck did I not see it?" He babbled, suddenly gripping Astraea's chin and tilting her head from side to side. Ya got Flamebrain's eyes, but they're a different colour… Stripper's hair colour but Rain Woman's hair… Fuck… Fernandez? Ya said yer last name was Fernandez?!" He gaped, holding her face in both hands as she stayed frozen in shock. The nicknames? The roughness? This skeleton…? "Ya remind me of someone so much… but I can't remember. Ya look like my old guildmates… but ya remind me of someone I can't remember… I've been trying, but it's gone." He gulped, a tear rolling out from his empty eye socket. "I don't even remember when I forgot them."

"What do you mean…?" She inquired gently, laying her hands on his as she tried to remain calm.

"This place… Demons… Demons are souls that have forgotten their loved ones."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!**

**I apologise for this being several hours late, but it is still Tuesday... Where I am, anyway. I was really ill when I woke up... Time for you to get some more answers!**

_(I finally attempted to draw Astraea - cover pic - so now you can see what said giant suited skeleton is looking at. Anyone wants to try doing a better sketch, go for it!)_

**Please enjoy!**

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**Chapter Three**

"This place… Demons… Demons are souls that have forgotten their loved ones." He wept, still holding her face in his hands desperately as if it held all the answers that had abandoned him, as if he could not let go of the precious answers she may yet yield. "I don't remember… Not anymore… I've been down here for what feels like eternity… I remember what happened in my loops, but not who the person was with me in all of them… I don't remember our kids, our grandkids… I've lost their names and faces, but I know they existed… but my loops are becoming less clear every day now… I've not got long left before I become a demon."

"When we met, you said that who you are doesn't matter anymore? You've forgotten yourself too, haven't you?" She pressed softly, trying to hold back her fear at her own momentary lapse in memory less than an hour previous.

"My name was the first thing I forgot… They put us all in separate divisions… Ya end up down here if yer actions cause the death of someone – past, present, or future. Plenty of people died while I was fighting life or death battles to save the world, ya know?" He snorted, finally removing one of his hands from her face. "I heard Flamebrain's voice once. He'll make it out, not me though… I guess that's what I get for being the bad guy for a couple of years."

"I think I know you." She gulped, finally sure of what she suddenly suspected. "Well, not that I _knew_ you, more know _of _you." Astraea added, laughing nervously.

"Gihe, everyone knew of me." He grinned, his abnormally sharp teeth glinting. "That much, I remember."

"No, em, I think you might have been one of the Ten Wizard Saints… the one with Iron Dragon Slayer Magic…?" She coughed, not yet ready to breathe out the tiny bit of information that changed everything.

"Gihaha, I know that much – that's why the bastard wants to keep me here! He reminds me of my power every time he sees me. I tried to break out to get to- Shit… I want to know their name… I want to remember." He sighed, shaking his head as he reached up to run his hand through phantom hair.

"You cut your _really _long hair to be only a bit longer than your average guy when your youngest son's best friend thought it would be funny to light it on fire, gihe." She mused, watching as recognition sparked in those ever-familiar eye sockets.

"The little brat was Flamebrain's kid… He had an older sister, right?" He frowned, tilting that stupid head of his to one side.

"Yeah, apparently – according to my grandmothers – your eldest son had a huge crush on her when they were teenagers. She's actually one of my grandmothers, Heather Dragneel?" She offered, leaning her head into his touch.

"Pinkie… She was a cutie, but she could be a complete brat… Bit of a tomboy, that one." He nodded, studying Astraea's face again.

"What's going on in here?"

Astraea's head snapped around to find Edmund and Lucas standing directly behind her. Edmund's cold glare focused solely on the Head as Lucas watched her with a sad suspicion. She stepped away from the Head and gave him an apologetic smile before stepping towards the two boys. Lucas took her hand and tried to pull her through the wall silently. She looked back at the Head and he nodded his agreement.

"What were you doing in there with him?" Lucas demanded quietly as they arrived in the main cavern, letting go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulder. "He's almost a demon, so you really shouldn't be hanging around him… not _alone_ anyway."

"He wouldn't hurt me." She hissed, glaring at him.

"Shit, have you become his lover or something?!" He exclaimed, ripping his arm back as if she had just bitten him.

"No! What's wrong with you?!" Astraea snapped, wishing she had something to throw at him. Hairbands and combs really were not good enough. "Ever heard of the term 'gentle giant'?!"

"You're not helping yourself!" Lucas rushed, running his eyes over her untouched suit before relaxing a fraction. "So he sees you as a daughter or something…?"

"Something like that?" She laughed awkwardly. He was too close to the truth.

"Yer next case." The giant, suited skeleton grunted from behind her.

"Thanks." She nodded, trying to look behind him as she turned around.

"I chained the brat to the wall in my office. He's still technically thirteen – his magic ain't gonna get stronger and I've fought the fucking Stripper." He chuckled, clearly bemused by the thirteen year old boy who had just challenged him. "Great-grandson of the Stripper, I'd guess, judging by the style he used."

"Spot on." She nodded, before grinning. "And Leon. I'm assuming you remember him, gihe?"

"Barely." He admitted, a sadness to his smile. "I've been down here for decades and have plenty more to go.

"Yeah, a really long time…" She whispered, flinching as his eyes widened. She grabbed Lucas' arm and hurried over to the wall before opening her file. "Ray Fitzgerald."

"Nope, Lucas Pope. Nice try." He grinned, throwing his arm over her shoulders again. "So, you gonna tell me how you know the big man? It _sounded_ like he has some sort of connection to your family?" He pressed cheekily, winking at her.

"I don't know him personally… My grandmother did – he's been down here almost half a century." She laughed awkwardly, trying to ignore the idiot currently breathing in her ear. "She was twenty-seven when he died."

"I'm sorry." He murmured, moving in front of her to pull her into his chest. "I'm guessing we interrupted some reminiscing?"

"Yeah, gihe, Aidan Dragneel was a real brat as a kid." She giggled into Lucas before pulling back. "Thanks, but I'm fine, honest. I just wish I'd gotten to meet him while he was alive, you know?"

"The Head or Aidan Dragneel?" Lucas guffawed, ruffling her midnight blue hair annoyingly. "I met him a few times – Aidan, obviously."

"Really?" She gasped, then shook her head. "Actually, not that surprising. I think he's still alive?"

"My grandmother used to date his dad, but they stayed good friends." He nodded, ignoring her question. "That was back when Fairy Tail was still Fairy Tail… What's it like now? All new members but just not the good old days?"

"Pretty much, especially with magic dying… My grandparents had such high hopes for me, but here I am, dead. I'm sixteen and I'm dead. Some hope for magic I was, huh?" She sighed, leaning into him.

"I tried to learn from the Drunken Falcon." He deadpanned, making her laugh loud enough to gain the attention of the other Reapers in the cavern.

"How'd that go?" She inquired, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm seventeen and have been dead forrrrr, emmm- Actually, I maybe shouldn't tell you." He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"How many deaths did you cause?" Astraea frowned, suddenly worried for him.

"Just a dozen… and myself." He admitted bashfully. "I heard my grandparents stopped drinking after that?"

"Oh my god… You're the reason the Drunken Falcon just vanished?! He must have felt terrible!" She gasped, pulling away from him for a moment before wrapping her arms around him. He had been young and foolish. "What happened?"

"I don't actually know… I was blackout drunk?" He mumbled, looking away from her. "He told me not to add alcohol until I had mastered my technique…and was old enough – apparently my grandmama's example wasn't one to follow." He sighed, shaking his head. "Anyway, I somehow brought the building down on myself."

"The Drunken Falcon disappeared over thirty years ago? His family only gave up looking for him about twenty years ago because he'd be ancient if he was still alive. He left his wife behind with the rest of their family." She explained, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. This 'boy' had been dead for over thirty years… and he looked no different to her, just with some missing flesh. "How much of you is left? How do you still remember? How _much_ do you still remember?!"

"How much of me?" He winked, glancing down at his smart, black trousers. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Lucas!" She blushed, shoving him away from her. "I was being serious…"

"So was I," he breathed into her ear as he wrapped an arm around Astraea's shoulders again, "especially after seeing you so close to Head. I actually felt a little jealous."

"I have work to do." She stated as she shrugged off his arm, immediately missing the warmth. Here two months, made what she had thought was a friend, and lost him again in just over a month. It was not a record, sadly, but it still hurt every time.

"Ray Fitzgerald?" She called out as she stepped through the wall.

And came to a stop.

Eighteen souls stared at her. Directly at her.

Well, shit.

"Leave her be." A kind, angelic voice politely commanded. Astraea watched as they all turned away except for one single male soul. "You should really pay attention to the situation before drawing attention to yourself." The voice smiled, warmth radiating from behind her. "Ah, my sweet Astraea… How wonderful it is to finally meet you again." The little, older woman chimed, tears in her eyes as she held out her arming welcomingly.

"Great-grandma?" Astraea gasped, stepping into the warm embrace of the winged soul.

"Yes, my sweet Astraea, my wonderful Astraea." She cooed, patting the top of her head. "I'm sorry it had to be you, I truly am."

"What do you mean?" Astraea frowned, pulling back slightly to look back into her great grandmother's face that sat level to her own. They truly were the same height! She had thought her grandma had been teasing her!

"You are just like his little Aiko." She smiled, stroking the side of her face caressingly. "Our youngest daughter. Your father was only three when my Gajeel died, but you've picked up so many traits from all of us… I knew you would remind him of his life. Especially since your attitude is that of Aiko. He'll see all of us in you, but will love you as he loved his baby girl – like any parent protects the baby of the family."

"So I'm supposed to help him remember…?" Astraea suggested, pulling further back so that only their hands touched. "I had to die to allow him to remember? What about my family?! What about my parents?! What if my cousin blames herself for my death?!"

"Oh, Astraea, you are not dead." The soft voice of her great-grandmother soothed, gently lifting a wait off of her shoulders. "You are still alive, just trapped… but once you help him, he will have the power to free you. You must help him or the world will end before you are even born."

"What's that supposed to mean…?" Astraea mumbled out through gritted teeth, narrowing her red eyes at her winged great-grandmother.

"I need you to lead him to a loop he hasn't been to yet." The greying haired angel explained gently, cupping the side of her face in small hands. "I-"

"He's had his loops! He's dead!" Astraea snarled, pulling out of her reach. "Like me!"

"You are not dead!" Her great-grandmother snapped, grabbing her shoulders as if to shake her. "I stopped your body! Your body is trapped in time, lifeless but alive! I had to!"

"You killed me?! What about my parents?! Your grandson, Makas?! How could you do that to him?!" Astraea cried out, grasping the tiny angel's wrists to rip them off of her shoulders.

"You are not _dead!_ _I am!_" The angel exclaimed, tears rolling down her cheeks in translucent streams. "I would not kill you, Astraea. I gave up my time with my family, the time my Gajeel granted me, to save you when you were a _baby_ – why would you _ever_ think I'd want to kill you…?" She finished, her voice almost a whisper as she searched deep into the black slits of Astraea's eyes, searching her soul.

"What's that supposed to mean?! Are you trying to make me feel guilty for something?!" Astraea hissed, shoving the little blunette angel.

"No, my sweet Astraea, no," the angel soothed, daintily wiping her cheeks, leaving just her puffy hazel eyes as evidence of her tears, "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"If you had one." Astraea grunted, still glaring at her great-grandmother.

"If I had one." She smiled back, clearly amused. "I hadn't realised then what I was doing, to be honest. I knew I was saving _you_, but I hadn't known you were key to the present ever coming to be."

"And how am I a key to anything? I'm not a Celestial Wizard, by the way, if that helps." Astraea grumbled, blowing a lock of midnight blue hair out of her face. "I don't even have magic."

"You do have magic." Her great-grandmother beamed back, taking her hands in her own. "I gave my life to seal it, to save you – we could not let it overload your tiny body." She continued, love glinting in her all-seeing hazel eyes. "Your body should be strong enough now – you've given it such a hard time trying to keep up with your magic-wielding cousins – so it could be unlocked now. You're strong, my little Astraea. I'm sorry I had to send you to Hell like I did… but it is important, something only you can do…"

"Remind my great-grandfather, Gajeel Redfox, of his family and the woman he tried to fight all of Hell to get to." Astraea sighed, clenching her jaw. She was impossible. This ridiculous woman was impossible. By the time she had died, she had been considered the most intelligent woman alive – speculated to be a better tactician than even Mavis herself. And she thought a sixteen-year-old girl could save the _present_ – allow it to _exist_ – by convincing her dead husband to remember his life? To guide him to a 'loop' he had not been to _yet_. "You're crazy."

"I'll show you how he died."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima!**

**Hah! I bet everyone was going "I knew Sketcher was going to disappear again, they never stick around"! Well, I didn't disappear! Just had one Hell of a week **_(The pun there was not originally intended but, rather, noticed after typed...)_**. Anyway, hope you enjoy this update! I need to get on with getting ready for work! **

(I'll try to update again in a few days... It does say on my profile about them not being regular...)

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"I'll show you how he died." The little, blunette angel stated, her face serious. "All the important parts. Why he was there, who he was with, the blow that killed him, the Reaper that collected his soul." She continued, her expression grim. "Whatever you want."

"Why weren't you there?" Astraea demanded, a tear rolling down her cheek. She had been told the story of Gajeel the Iron Dragon Slayer, just as she had been told about Levy, Erza, Jellal, Natsu, Lucy, Juvia, and Gray. She knew all their stories. She knew them off by heart – they had been pounded into since she was a small child. The people around her had hoped the stories of their greatness would encourage her magic to appear. How could she be without magic with eight such amazing great-grandparents? Apparently because of the tiny angel in front of her.

"What?" The angel blinked, clearly startled.

"I already know everything – that he went out into that army, pushing ahead on his own, and got himself killed. A battle-ax down through his back. My grandmother tells me of it a lot, the day she lost her father, watched as he bled to death in her eldest brother's arms while the twins wept, her sister's hand on her shoulder as she screamed inconsolably." Astraea bit, her tears flowing freely, her grandmother's pain echoing deep through her bones. "She's always felt that if even just one of them had been with him, they might have stopped that killing blow." She added, angrily wiping away her tears. "But what she has never been able to tell me was why you weren't there. Everyone says the two of you were inseparable, even before you were together – even when you were still scared of him. Why weren't you there?!"

"Because someone had to stay home." Her grandmother whispered, her tone heartbroken as she fell to her knees as her gaze dropped sightlessly to the ground by Astraea's feet. "If I'd had the ability I have now… but I didn't… When he said goodbye that morning, it was as if he knew… He'd begged me not to come, even though I'd managed missions nine months pregnant before – this time was different for him. He told me he was taking the kids, that he needed me to stay home with the grandkids, to make sure at least one of us would be there to look after them if anything went wrong… I told him that he was an idiot and that I loved him. He kissed me as if he would never see me again. I thought he was being paranoid that the five of them would never come home," she gulped, tears flooding her pale cheeks, "but he was going to his death and he knew it. He knew it, just like I knew that he had lied after that last mission… His magic was starting to fail him, but he kept denying it – said his magic was immortal, like him."

"His magic wasn't failing – magic doesn't just fail. He was strong!" Astraea snarled, pulling the angel's face to look back at her, those hazel eyes still unseeing. She released the blunette's face, stumbling backwards at the sight of those milky eyes. Was she blind?! But they had been clear moments before?! How was that possible?!

"I keep rewatching that last mission, watching as his magic blinked for a second, watching as he reached his limit faster than normal… It was the hardest mission we'd had since the twins… But he should have managed it without a problem." She continued, completely oblivious of the interruption. Was she watching it now? "He knew before the rest of us that magic was dying. He had known his whole life that magic would die – that bastard has always remembered his loops! He accepted that curse for me!" She cried out, batting out at the metal floor of their surroundings and leaving deep claw-like gouges. "I was cursed to recognise him but never remember, while he was cursed to remember the previous five loops and feel the frustration of having to always start from the beginning with me… It blackened his soul… It wasn't until a loop before Fairy Tail that we had finally started to be happy again… We've been through a thousand loops together, jumping between timelines and universes, always different."

"So he was apparently cursed his whole life and chose death because of it?!" Astraea snorted, more to herself. This was nonsense.

"We were there at the end of the world, where our stories first intertwined." She admitted quietly, her eyes regaining their hazel colour, her pupils back to black circles. "We had already lived a dozen loops each, separate, when we met. That loop just happened to be the end of the world, but that was when we met our friends and found love. True, soul-deep love. When the world ended, we made a bargain. We bargained to be allowed to start again, always together… with our friends."

"So why weren't your friends cursed?" Astraea demanded, hauling the angel back to her feet.

"Because they didn't make the bargain, we did." Her great-grandmother nodded. "Now I understand that it would have all happened if we hadn't made the bargain – the beauty of the vision of Time. We would have still lived backwards through time, but Gajeel would never have been cursed with remembering his previous loops… We may not have met like we had, but we likely would have met in most loops and each loop would probably have bumped into different selections of our friends – Fairy Tail would have been the first time that we would truly all be there together."

"So, if everything is set, what do you need me for?" Astraea sighed, putting her hands firmly on her hips.

"Because I will never make it to Fairy Tail if you don't help him." She smiled sadly, wringing her hands in front of her. "I need you to talk him into going to get me, like he did in my last loop, but he was already dead in my last loop and had been for a long time – that time is now."

"And how would you know that?" Astraea sighed, narrowing her eyes.

"Because I have the sight of Time – I work for the Archangel of Time, allowing me the Sight." Her great-grandmother explained, pursing her lips. "And I also know that if you don't help him, we'll never meet at Fairy Tail because I'll be a couple hundred years in the wrong direction since we're looping back in time. If we don't meet, he doesn't change enough. If he doesn't change enough, the world as we know it ends long before you are born." She finished, her voice serious. "Will you help or not?"

"The New Fairy Tactician at work." Astraea rolled her eyes, shaking her midnight blue hair. "Of course I'll help – I'm a Fairy Tail Descendant."

"You're a what?"

"Fairy Tail Descendant?" Astraea repeated as she spun around to face the male voice in annoyance.

"Do you tell yourself that on every mission?!" Lucas snorted, bending over double.

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of a conversation?" She retorted, turning back to look at her great-grandmother. She was gone. Vanished. "Or not." She muttered under her breath. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Following me now, are you, creep?"

"Look, I'm sorry about before… I really am." He sighed, running a skeletal hand through his cobalt blue hair as his azure eyes looked away bashfully. "You do know that I couldn't have followed you though, right…? This was just my next mission, after the one I had when you left me in the Cavern."

"Ho-How long have I been away?!" Astraea panicked, grabbing hold of his still lightly muscular arm.

"About an hour?" He frowned, looking around them as his skeletal arm stayed up behind his head. "Why are you hanging around on a rolled train with a bunch of souls that need collec- WHAT IS THAT!?" He yelled, hauling her away from the deep gouges in the floor of the train. "Was a demon here?!"

"No…?" She offered, shifting uncomfortably. An angel. An angel had done that. And he thought it had been a demon. Then again, demons looked like angels… just with black wings instead of white. Were angels just as dangerous?

"We need to get out of here, now!" Lucas demanded, looking around desperately for the soul he was supposed to collect… They were surrounded. His stupid shouting had grabbed every soul's attention. Well, shit. "Found mine." He nodded, his expression now perfectly serious, calm.

"Go get it then." She coughed, glancing to her left.

He nodded and she watched as he dodged, jumped, and leaped through the crowd, careful not to touch a wrong soul before slicing through the shoulder, right down to the heart, of his required soul. Ouch. Was she supposed to be that brutal? She turned as he disappeared in a wisp of blackish grey smoke to face Ray Fitzgerald who had made his way calmly over to her. He smiled kindly at her, in silence, before making a gesture to continue with what she had to do. She frowned as she tapped her scythe against his chest.

"He's mute." Gajeel grunted as she rematerialised in his office. "And you were talking to an angel. A powerful one."

"And how would you know that?" She replied, a note of defiance in her voice.

"Because I sensed the fucker and tried to pull ya out, but I couldn't." He snarled, before suddenly pulling her against his chest. "I was worried about ya."

"Wow, the Great Gajeel Redfox, overpowered by a girl." She teased, shaking her head as she pulled back to look up at him.

"A girl?" He frowned, narrowing his eye sockets at her.

"Yes, well, woman, dead woman, dead elderly woman?" She offered, shrugging slightly. "Apparently you have friends."

"An angel…? I don't know any angels." He grumbled, sitting on the edge of his stone desk. "I should know a couple of souls up there… Not that I can remember anymore."

"How long do you have left…?" She pressed gently, taking his skeletal hand.

"Probably days." He admitted quietly before looking back at her. "Wish I hadn't wasted these two months, ya know?"

"You were the first person to swear at me." She blurted, her cheeks flushing a bright scarlet as he looked back at her in confused bemusement. "No-one had ever sworn at me before."

"Ok…?" He responded, clearly waiting for something. An explanation, maybe?

"Everyone was scared of me… Little, magicless me." She laughed nervously. Was this really the right moment to tell him that he was her great-grandfather – or, at least, one of them? If what his wife had told her was true, he had been cursed with memory all his life and now he was being damned to Hell for all eternity by losing it.

"But ya're not magicless?" He snorted, shaking his head at her. "Ya're probably one of the strongest wizards I've ever seen?"

"Trust me, I have no magic." She deadpanned. She had spent her whole life wishing to have magic like her cousins, never mind that of the Greats.

"It's been sealed, but it's there?" He returned, his head tilting to one side. "In fact, that lock… Who sealed it? I know them – I don't remember them, but I know them, which means they're important." He rushed, grabbing her as he bent so his empty eye sockets were level with her crimson eyes. "My eyes…" He mumbled and she tried to pull back, only for him to grip her tighter. "Ya have my eye colour… but it's Flamebrain's shape. I had that colour of eyes. Terrified people, the colour. Ya know the important person because ya're descended from us – they sealed yer magic for some reason."

"My great-grandmother." Astraea nodded, trying to stay calm. He would not hurt her. He would never hurt her. "You loved her and you had four children together… Your eldest son is the one we were discussing earlier, but I hadn't realised it yet."

"My son is about to die?" He gulped, falling back down onto his desk. "In our previous loop… In our previous loop, she died giving birth to him. We thought we were going to be happy – first time in fuck-knows how many loops – and she died giving birth to our son. I was so bitter about it, her death because of my love rather than my frustration, that I took it out on her when I first met her in our last loop. I wanted her to think that my attack was why I looked familiar, because I couldn't bear to start again after we had been so happy in the previous loop – I needed her to stay away from me… and we still fell in love. A thousand and thirteen loops it took us to finally get our happy ending." He smirked, a sadness to his tone. "We got our family and our friends, which is all we ever really wanted. I murdered her so many times, my Shrimp- Shrimp! Midget! Pocketwoman!"

"Ok, you need to calm down and stop yelling weird insults, thank you very much." Astraea grumbled, pursing her lips. She was not that short.

"No, my beloved one – my important person." He grinned, more life in his skeleton than she had seen in the last two months. "I remember her! Her face! Her smile! Our kids… Their faces, I remember… but what were their names?" He trailed off before suddenly turning to look at her beseechingly.

"Will it help if I tell you, or will you just forget again?" She frowned, glancing over her shoulder as she hoped they did not get interrupted again.

"I don't know, Aiko." He replied, shaking his head in frustration.


End file.
